The Problem

The current US healthcare system lacks a standardized process to aid discharged patients outside of the hospital.

This is particularly challenging for people with chronic conditions, as most require mental rehabilitation, and their health conditions tend to fluctuate.

The lack of resources and understanding, as they are discharged, often exacerbates their mental and physical illness which may lead to hospital re-admissions.

The Solution

Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Validate

Qualitative Research

In order to come up with a solution that families, social workers, and healthcare professionals can “adopt” in reality, we interviewed a patient, suffering from a rare chronic condition, her parents, as well as a social worker (who normally aids in discharge planning.) The semi-structured interview questions are divided into the below topics based on the case studies and information we’ve found about discharge planning in the US.

What surprised us most from our research is the lack of standardized discharge plans or the over-simplified plans as a result of time constraints. Chronic conditions often impact the patients’ families as a unit, who often have trouble empathizing with each other’s pains and needs. Thus, our solution needs to focus on improving communication (among families, social workers, and patients) and translating the insights into a discharge plan for guidance.

Ideation

The team began looking into possible “familiar” and unintrusive solutions. Tim Brown, the Executive of IDEO, previously mentioned in his book Change in Design that—” to get people to try something new is to build upon an experience that is familiar to them.”

During our brainstorms, we came up with a “card games” system for the three phases of post-hospitalization care. The gamification of communication helps shaped the safe space for sharing while providing the guidance and insights social workers need to customize a holistic discharge plan.

Prototype + Validate

To validate whether our card games are efficient and approachable. We brought some printed prototypes to class. In order to explain the service system properly, we also storyboarded an “experience prototype” to quickly immerse the class in the scenario we are designing for.

Prototypes - The Spoon Theory, Chronicthetical, and Pictionary

The prototypes of the games were tested in two groups. The Spoon Theory and Pictionary tested especially well in a group setting, but some of the rules had to be modified to be a bit more challenging.